


hockey science 'verse extras

by sapphee



Series: Overly Honest Methods: Hockey Science Edition [7]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Accidental Ingestion of Foreign Object, Attempted Proposal, Bad Puns, Future Fic, M/M, Mothers' Day, Nursey's four moms are back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-08-30 13:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8534314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphee/pseuds/sapphee
Summary: Extras in the hockey science 'verse!#1: Dex attempts to propose.#2: How do Nursey and his four moms celebrate Mothers' Day?





	1. An Attempted Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> So the first extra was sort of unofficially requested by JessJessTheBest on ao3. Apologies for it being nowhere near 15k and also not being even remotely related to Dex meeting Nursey's moms for the first time (I have no idea where it went). Heads-up that there is going to be a brief discussion of a butt plug.
> 
> If you have any ideas or suggestions or prompts for what else you'd like to see in this 'verse (short scenes, as I have no plans to add more plot stuff), please let me know by dropping a comment or sending me an ask on my omgcp sideblog (@omgcphee)! I can't guarantee it will be what you want or that it will be done in a timely manner, but I will try! 
> 
> I don't have a particular plan for these extras - the only thing I know for sure is that I'd like to do a mini Charmer subplot, as that was the only ship that didn't have its own little thing going on, due to space/other plot stuff going on. So yeah, if you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see, let me know! :D

**the chillion dollar question** @brozen ∙ 4 Nov 2020

HELL YEAH RT @DNC #MichelleObama is back. You pumped?

 

 **the chillion dollar question** @brozen ∙ 4 Nov 2020

incidentally, so is my stomach

 

 **the chillion dollar question** @brozen ∙ 4 Nov 2020

i have been informed by dr-in-training friend that that will not be happening. they will be doing other things instead

—

Wed, Nov 4, 2020, 5:59 PM  
**Rans** renamed the conversation **the haus is where the heart is**.

RANS: reminder that dex said he was doing it at 6

CHOWDER: GRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHITS: is it on you yet nursey i’m crying you grew up so fast

LARDO: ya man. come on give us the pics

TANGO: congrats nursey and dex, i’m so happy for you!

WHISKEY: Congrats.

CHOWDER: as we spent the most time dealing with your will-you-won’t-you back at samwell, cait and i demand to be the first to see those pics

BITS: Dex, I called them, and they told me that they had a mix-up, BUT that they managed to get it to you ten minutes ago! Sorry I wasn’t able to overnight the celebratory pies for Nursey’s moms earlier :(

HOLTZY: Where are those pics. We need them, like, yesterday.

RANS: *two years ago. they’re so #married

JACK: ...so is everyone else in this group chat.

JACK: Dex, not to rush you, but you did say you’d send us pictures of Nursey’s reaction immediately.

JACK: Is everything okay?

BITS: What Jack means is that there are also a dozen giant bouquets about to be delivered to Nursey’s moms’ front door. And that he asked the delivery person to take pictures of your reactions and wants you to send those along as well.

BITS: I tried to stop him, but there’s no stopping this boy when he’s like this.

CHOWDER: dex? nursey? is everything okay?

DEX: I brought out the wrong pie first.

BITS: Oh.

BITS: Fuck

HOLTZY: Bits, sir, that is a FINE.

—

6:02PM

 **Jessica**  
BILLY PICS  
BILLY  
billy why aren’t you answering your phone

—

Wed, Nov 4, 2020, 6:37 PM  
**Nursey** renamed the conversation **going to the hauspital**.

 

NURSEY: so it isn’t on me, but it IS in me

NURSEY: not in a sexy way but

NURSEY: on our way to the hospital

NURSEY: lol

JACK: How would an engagement ring ever be inside you in a sexy way

JACK: Wai

LARDO: [image of a butt plug; the protruding end is shaped like a ring, making it so that the wearer or their partner can slip a finger into the ring to push it in or pull it out]

JACK: 1) That was fast. 2) I knew as soon as I typed it that I should not have typed it.

JACK: Bits took one look and turned redder than Samwell crimson.

JACK: Interesting.

BITS: JACK WHY WOULD YOU EXPOSE ME LIKE THIS

HOLTZY: I’d try it

RANS: holy fuck yeah

RANS: link us lards

SHITS: fuck that, i’d try that more than once

SHITS: lards?

LARDO: on it.

TANGO: um i literally put my phone down for five minutes???????????

TANGO: whiskey saw the look on my face and turned his phone off.

CHOWDER: cait: oh what happened?

CHOWDER: how do i even begin to explain this

—

Nora watches as Dex paces the waiting area. “You think he’s okay?”

“Will or Derek?” Mari asks.

Nora shrugs. “Either.”

Mari buries her face in her arms. “I have no idea. Maybe we should’ve held off on telling Derek.”

Lane puts her hand on Mari’s shoulder. “What if he hates us?”

Noelle pats Mari’s back. “What’s done is done,” Noelle says wisely, as she always does. “Of course he doesn’t hate you. He was just surprised.”

“And look where that got him,” Mari says miserably. “In the hospital. Doing X-rays and getting poked by doctors while they figure out what to do.”

“I should’ve been more delicate about it,” Lane says. “I was just so excited—”

Mari covers Lane’s hand with her own. “I know, I know. I was, too.”

Nora places her head on Lane’s shoulder, and they’re all quiet for a moment, watching Dex stare at his phone, type something, make one lap around the waiting area, and do it all over again.

“I just feel so bad for Will,” Mari says, her voice softer than before. “The poor boy’s been on his feet all day, cooking and baking and practicing his speech. All while nervously laughing at our bad jokes and trying to hide how afraid he was about the whole thing.”

“And all those nights he must have spent thinking about it before talking it over with us. He just wanted to make everything perfect for Derek,” Lane says. “But I just _had_ to ruin it by blurting out, ‘Hey, your Mama and I are thinking about getting back together,’ right when he took his first bite. Just because I couldn’t wait for Derek to even get settled.”

“We _had_ planned to tell him right before Will got down on one knee, so that he’d have time to switch out Derek’s slice with the real one,” Mari says, trying to soothe Lane. “We’d all been so excited about Derek and Will’s visit that we forgot to check that both pies were actually in the kitchen.”

“So it wasn’t just your fault,” Noelle says, nodding at Mari and Lane. “It was all of us.”

“I agree. Not to ignore what we’re talking about, but I don’t get it,” Nora says. “He’s known us all these years, and he still doesn’t believe that we love him. He’s come on vacation with us. He’s made us dinner at their apartment. He’s spent holidays with us. He’s still just as terrified around us as he was the first time he met us. For real, I mean. The time he cooked dinner for us and Derek at the Haus.”

“After the CHIRPP, when he made the kale bread, and Derek nearly killed him,” Noelle says, chuckling. “I remember. Will was so afraid we would be offended, but like, hello? We _love_ kale.”

“Derek should be glad we weren’t at okra then,” Nora says. “We’re never doing _that_ again.”

Everymom shudders.

“Sorry,” Lane says. “For the Fiasc-Okra of 2018. And for landing our son in the hospital.”

“We couldn’t have predicted that he would swallow such a big bite whole, and we didn’t know Dex’s pie was the one we were eating, not Eric’s,” Noelle says. “Though, I suppose, we should’ve seen it coming. Derek’s disgusting when he eats.”

“Again, not to say that it’s all your fault,” Nora says hastily, when she sees Lane wince. “It’s n—”

“Noelle?” Aimee, one of her colleagues, says. “All of you can come in now.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Noelle whispers quickly, before standing up. Dex is already by the door, foot bouncing, as he waits for them. “Thanks, Ames. How is he?”

“Doing just fine. We got it out without any complications, so he’s all yours.”

Noelle doesn’t need to look behind her to know that Nora, Mari, and Lane all have their phones out, cameras at the ready. She puts a hand on Will’s shoulder. “Go get ‘im, tiger. As we’ve already told you, you have our blessing a _chillion_ times over.”

Will groans, but it does the trick; before he walks into the room, he turns to quickly hug Nora, Noelle, Mari, and Lane. Then, he steels his shoulders, walks over, and gets down on one knee.

(They’ll tell Derek about Lane and Mari falling back in love with each other _on top of_ still being in love with their wives later.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! (Some of, so far) Nursey's moms are polyam <3


	2. Mothers' Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #2: How do Nursey and his four moms celebrate Mothers' Day? 
> 
> [Takes place a few weeks after Mother's Day 2017 (May 14).]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, so like i meant to post this earlier, like in real time for mother's day 2017, but life's been rough for the past few months, so that didn't happen. then i wanted to post this extra (which turned out to be way longer than i had originally planned) on june 21, 2017, because the first part of hockey science au (aka the psychology journal article that started it all) turned a year old on that day. 
> 
> but then life got rougher and busier, and while i had started this a week before mother's day, i just had no time or motivation for writing. idr if i've mentioned this before, but i write really sporadically, like 10k-words-in-3-days followed by like a whole year of writing nothing at all, which is what happened here. my life has not stopped being rough at the time that i'm posting this, but i was hit by a sudden burst of energy to finish this in like, one night (i.e., i have not slept/i have been writing this for like 5-6 hours straight), and have spent the last like hour or close to an hour formatting this, and my brain is very tired. 
> 
> so i guess this is just a long-winded way of saying that there will definitely be mistakes in this because i've had insomnia over the past few months (and why not spend that time not sleeping writing instead of just tossing and turning in bed all night, right) and also i pulled an all-nighter to write this and i also haven't been in the best frame of mind for the past few months. but anyway i hope you like this! i really can't believe i started (and finished, the true cryptid of writing) hockey science au a little over a year ago wow
> 
> pls reblog [here](http://omgcphee.tumblr.com/post/162751752799/happy-belated-birthday-to-the-first-fic-i-ever)!
> 
> dedicated to someone very close to my heart. hope ya like

momfordsandson:

> hey y’all, here is a special q&a compilation for mothers’ day, as promised! for those who don’t know, i am the guy with four moms. i get a lot of asks from time to time about them, which is why i decided to do a big post about my moms for mothers’ day this year. to write that post, i asked you to send me questions you wanted my moms and me to answer weeks ago. i had wanted to post this on mothers’ day but i hadn’t expected so many questions (i love them all tho!!), which is why i am posting late. to give you an idea of how much i underestimated the kind of response i was going to get, here’s a breakdown of the asks i got:
> 
>   * “happy mothers’ day to your moms!” (and variations): 86
>   * “i love your moms!!!” (me too): 57
>   * “what do you do for moms’ day?” / ”do you do anything for mothers’ day?” (yes): 43
>   * “can your moms adopt me?” (no sorry y’all): 24
>   * “do your moms approve of dex?” (yes) (for context, i used to be @you-are-dex back when i was always pining for #The Boy. now that i’m no longer pining (BC HE'S MY BOYF NOW Y'ALL), i’ve reworked this blog into focusing more on talking about my four moms and the things they get up to in trying to take care of me, hence #four mom nurse and the url change): 15
>   * “who’s your favorite mom?”: 9 (really? only 9? though i suppose it’s because i’ve answered this one a lot AND it’s in my faq)
>   * “do you do anything for father’s day?” (yes): 3
>   * misc/didn’t fit in the other categories: 14
>   * total: 251
>   * (what the fuck guys. i mean, thank you for sending them in, but. chill.)
> 

> 
> * * *
> 
> anyway so here are some longer replies to some of these asks:
> 
> —
> 
> [a collage of screenshots, presumably of the 86 asks that express the sentiment “happy mothers’ day to your moms!”]
> 
>   * **Anonymous** asked: happy mothers’ day to your moms!!!!!
>   * **lobstarks** asked: HAPPY MOMS DAY
>   * **momsters-inc** asked: HEY JUST WANTED 2 LET U KNO I LUV UR MOMS N IM THINKIN OF THEM 2DAY HAPPY MOMS DAY!!!
>   * (etc. etc.)
> 

> 
> thanks everyone! hope yours is going/went the way you wanted/needed it to! and my moms say thanks as well! <3
> 
> —
> 
> [another collage of screenshots, of the 57 asks expressing the sentiment “i love your moms!!!”
> 
>   * **Anonymous** asked: omg I love hearing you talk about your moms, I don’t have any questions really I love and will continue to love everything you say about them  <3
>   * **Anonymous** asked: I love you and your moms so much
>   * **boyslikeboyslikeboys** asked: hey d it’s month 6 of our friendship and I still love your moms [heart emoji]
>   * (etc. etc.)
> 

> 
> i love em too! and they send their love to all of you as well!!
> 
> —
> 
> [screenshot collage of the 15 asks asking, “do your moms approve of dex?”]
> 
>   * **mumsthewordoftheday** asked: if you don’t mind my asking, has dex met your moms? Do your moms like him?
>   * **Anonymous** asked: has dex achieved #mompproval
>   * (etc. etc.)
> 

> 
> yes lmao he’s gotten really good at baking and so my moms love him for enabling their weird habit of finding a different vegetable or whatever to work into all their recipes for the next month while making their one and only son suffer through the fruits (vegetables?) of their labor, especially because now they don’t have to spend so much money on overnighting me a loaf of, like, onion bread pudding. now they just have to skype with dex while dex is doing the baking and tell dex to threaten to tickle me when i get back to the haus if i refuse to try it
> 
> EDIT: dex just popped in to say it was onion AND GARLIC bread pudding WHATEVER SOOOOOOORRY.
> 
> —
> 
> [college of screenshots of the 3 asks asking, “do you do anything for father’s day?”]
> 
>   * **but-everyone-calls-me-dad** asked: I know this isn’t about your moms, but do you do anything for father’s day?
>   * **Anonymous** asked: I know you’ve mentioned that celebrating mothers’ day takes a lot of planning, did you ever think about splitting up the work, so you can celebrate with your moms on two different days, like maybe instead of a mothers’ day, a mothers’ weekend? Or 2 moms on mothers’ day and 2 moms on father’s day?
>   * **hi-dad-i** asked: what about father’s day, or is that just a normal not-holiday day for you?
> 

> 
> i may not have dads, but i still do stuff with my moms for _their_ dads! of my moms’ dads, mama’s, maman’s, and mum’s dads are still alive, and mama’s and mum’s dads are in nyc (mama’s parents live with mama’s sister and her husband and kids, and mum’s dad lives with mum and mom; maman’s parents live with maman’s brother and his wife and kids in massachusetts).
> 
> i do something for all my moms on mothers’ day because i spend the saturday before that taking my grandmas to brunch—mom’s mom lives with mom’s sister in new jersey so they always drive down to nyc for this, while maman and i pick up the rest of the grandmas (maman and i skype her mom after brunch; since i go to college in MA, i go out to dinner with maman’s mom and the rest of her family there the friday night before i take a 2 am bus back to nyc for mothers’ day/weekend).
> 
> for father’s day, i go to dinner with maman’s family in MA before the semester ends, since father’s day is in june and i’ve already left for home by the third week of may. for father’s day, we do brunch with my grandfathers and then spend the rest of the day together. i visit maman’s parents once a month when i’m at college and visit my other grandparents whenever i go home.
> 
> because i don’t have the time to have dinner with mom’s mom and then with mum’s dad and then with mama’s parents when i go home during the school year, that’s when everyone gets together for a huge family gathering (if i were to sum up my family: lots of moms, lots of grandparents, lots of cousins), for fall break/thanksgiving/spring break/etc. and lots of phone calls in the meantime, of course—and letters, bc my grandparents are into that.
> 
> EDIT: dex wanted me to say, “so are you. weren’t you the one who came up with that idea?” why am i still with this boy when all he does is reveal all my secrets
> 
> EDIT EDIT: sorry i meant to add some more stuff but then i got distracted. or should i say,,,,,,,,,, dextracted
> 
> anyway so i visit my grandparents a lot more often during the summer bc i always look for something to do in nyc (esp bc my moms try really hard to be around during these months so that we can actually see each other beyond the monthly skype call when i’m at school. it’s really nice bc i always have a place to hang out or take a nap when i’m out in the city (mama and maman don’t live in the city while mom and mum do, and i switch off between mama and maman’s brownstone and mom and mum’s penthouse every two weeks, so if i’m hanging out in the city and i know mom and mum aren’t home [and i’m staying with mama and maman at that moment], i just pop over to mama’s parents’. and i always visit my mom’s mother whenever i take the bus from port authority into new jersey to check out mitsuwa.
> 
> EDIT EDIT EDIT: wow i just looked at what i wrote and i went waaaaay off-topic, whoops sorry
> 
> * * *
> 
> and now, for the most anticipated question:
> 
> [screenshot collage of the 43 asks asking, “what do you do for moms’ day?” / ”do you do anything for mothers’ day?”]
> 
>   * **itsgonnabemom** asked: do u do anything 4 mothers’ day?
>   * **Anonymous** asked: If you don’t mind my asking, how do you celebrate Mothers’ Day? Do you do something with all of them together? Or spend the morning with one mom, the afternoon with another, etc?         
>   * (etc. etc.)
> 

> 
> [flexes fingers] okaaay are you ready for this? YEAH I’M READY FOR THIS
> 
> ...my selena gomez phase was short-lived and has been over for years, i swear. anyway, so i thought i’d record mothers’ day for everyone this year?
> 
> —
> 
> _[It’s early morning, and Nursey’s bedroom quickly exits the frame of Nursey’s camera, as Nursey tiptoes over to his mama and maman’s room.]_
> 
> NURSEY: _[whispering]_ Strangers are always coming up to my moms to ask who’s the man in their relationship, which is obviously a terrible question—honestly, why are straight people like that? If they really wanted to know something meaningful about my moms, what they _really_ should’ve been asking is, “Who’s the early riser?”
> 
> Answer: Maman and Mom. This is important because— _[goes into Mama and Maman’s room, where Mama can be heard snoring, and gently shakes Maman awake, going over to Mama’s side of the bed as Maman gets up and shaking Mama with more force than he did with Maman, but Mama doesn’t stir]_ —I don’t have the time to spend a half-hour trying to wake the moms who are deep sleepers, since I have to get everything else ready. _[pulls Mama’s blanket away, but Mama just rolls over to the warm spot of the bed that Maman just vacated]_ Made the mistake of wasting my time trying to wake her the first two times I started doing this, but now I have an arrangement with Maman.
> 
> MAMAN: _[whispering]_ What are you doing?
> 
> NURSEY: _[whispering]_ Recording this for my blog, remember? Everyone wants to know how the guy with four moms celebrates Mothers’ Day. Want to say hi?
> 
> MAMAN: _[waves to camera]_ Hi everyone!
> 
> NURSEY: I gotta head out to Mom and Mum’s place now, so we’ll now leave Maman to wake up Mama. But just to give you an idea of how hard it can be to do that— _[changes the angle of the camera so now it’s looking at Maman and Mama, instead of him]_
> 
> MAMAN: Come on, honey, it’s time to get up. Our son wants us to get there at 5:30, and you take a long time to get ready.
> 
> MAMA: Noooooo!
> 
> MAMAN: _[starts tickling Mama]_
> 
> MAMA: _[shrieks, starts kicking]_
> 
> —
> 
> _[sped-up footage of Nursey’s subway ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan]_
> 
> —
> 
> NURSEY: _[lets himself in quietly, turns on the light to the kitchen]_ So my plan is for us to watch the sunrise, which is at 5:39 AM this year. It’s 4:45 right now, and I’ve just arrived at Mom and Mum’s apartment to make sure they’re up and because I’m using their kitchen. The plan is to watch the sunrise by the Hudson River and then come back here for breakfast, which means I need to set up the ingredients and everything now, so that they’re not kept waiting too long when we come back from watching it. But first, let me check that they’re up, because we need to head out at 5:20 to make it to the Hudson River Park.  _[ducks into Mom and Mum’s room, where Mom is combing her hair]_ Hi, Mom. Where’s Mum?
> 
> MOM: Hi, Diamond. _[kisses Nursey on the cheek, knocks on the door to the bathroom]_ You fall asleep washing your face again?
> 
> _[a crash can be heard from inside the bathroom]_
> 
> MUM: No, why would you think that? He here yet?
> 
> NURSEY: Just arrived. Morning, Mum! Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta get back to the kitchen.
> 
> _[footage of the hallway as Nursey goes back to the kitchen]_
> 
> NURSEY: Sorry, I know all of you wanted to see more of my moms, but I really wanted coffee. _[yawns as he turns on the coffeemaker]_
> 
> _[sets the camera down on the counter, as he pulls a to-do list from his pocket]_ Actually, this is the first Mothers’ Day I’m going to spend with all of my moms together? What I used to do before was figure out a way to divide the time so that I’d spend equal time with both sets of moms and also my grandmothers. Maybe I’d have brunch with Mom and Mum and their moms until early afternoon, then head over to spend the rest of the afternoon with Mama and Maman and their moms and have dinner. Or maybe I’d switch it so that I’d have brunch with Mama and Maman, then dinner with Mom and Mum.
> 
> The problem is that I have to see everyone all on one day—the Saturday before Mothers’ Day, because I always come home this weekend. It’s usually a busy time, too, with the last day of the semester being the week after that. So the thing I remember most about celebrating Mothers’ Day in college is that I’m always checking my phone for the time, because I have to visit everyone before I hop on the bus back to Boston the next morning—since I still have cram sessions with study groups to make.
> 
> _[pulls out a bouquet of flowers from the paper bag he brought with him, sticks them into a vase, and places it at the center of the table]_ This year, though, is a little different, because as you can see, I’m still at home on Mothers’ Day. It’s because I only have one exam for finals period. The rest are all papers, so I don’t have to go back to school until Tuesday for the exam. During our last family Skype call, Mum suggested that all five of us do something together for Mothers’ Day, so that I don’t have to run around as much. My moms get along a lot better than they used to, and we’ve already all gone on vacation together, so why not, right? So that’s why I spent yesterday hanging out with my grandmas for a giant family dinner and am spending the whole day today with all of my moms.
> 
> _[takes a sip of his coffee, before he sets three bananas, a cup of frozen strawberries, a cup of frozen blueberries, three kiwis, two mangoes, a cup of water, and a blender on the counter]_ I thought I’d make a fruit smoothie for watching the sunrise. Mama and Maman are over here often enough nowadays that they always leave their stuff here, so I’m pretty sure I just saw their water bottles a second ago? _[blends everything together, using a spoon to push down on the mixture while adding water when needed]_ Ah, here we go.
> 
> _[chops bananas, raspberries, strawberries, and sticks them in the fridge]_ I have everything for making breakfast after—I’m making Maman’s chocolate fruit crepes. I’ll share the recipe, if you’re interested. No nuts or gluten because some of my moms can’t have that stuff. It’s all going pretty easy today because I asked Mom to buy everything earlier. The hardest thing is probably going to be keeping everymom from getting up to help me make them, because I don’t want them to have to do anything.
> 
> —which is why I have this. _[pulls out a folded piece of paper, which unfolds into a large poster covering the whole table]_ It’s a Mothers’ Day-themed crossword I made. They have to work together to finish this while I make breakfast. [trips, almost drops the blender he’s holding] Whoops. That will _not_ happen while I’m making the crepes, I hope.
> 
> _[Mom and Mum walk in.]_
> 
> MUM: Is there any coffee left for me?
> 
> NURSEY: _[swats Mum’s hand away, and Mum tickles his side]_ No coffee for you. You get a smoothie instead.
> 
> MUM: _[frowns]_
> 
> MOM: Oh, poor us. We’re forced to drink this delicious fruit smoothie that our favorite Diamond made for us, instead of our usual boring coffee that we always drink every morning.
> 
> MUM: Oh, shut up. _[smiles, before kissing Nursey and her wife on the cheek]_ Hello, everyone who follows Diamond’s blog—[Nursey can be heard in the background muttering, “Please don’t say anything embarrassing”]—if you didn’t know already, Diamond is an absolute sweetheart whose greatest flaw is that he’s too tall?
> 
> NURSEY: Muuuuuuuuuuuuuum.
> 
> MOM: I definitely agree about Diamond being a sweetheart. But I’d say his greatest flaw is actually—
> 
> NURSEY: Aaaaaaaaaaand we’re off! It’s 5:22, so we gotta go!
> 
> —
> 
> _[sped-up footage panning the buildings and skyline as they make their way to Hudson Park, where Mama and Maman are waiting. The footage is accompanied by upbeat instrumental music. Mama and Maman kiss Nursey’s cheeks at the same time when he hands them their fruit smoothies. Mom helps Nursey record as each of the moms take pictures of Nursey, who rolls his eyes but good-naturedly strikes a pose. They watch the sunrise by the Hudson River. After the sun is up, Mama reveals a rainbow-colored frisbee, and they toss it around. Nursey trips over himself while trying to catch the frisbee, as Mum and Maman dive for it as well. Nursey emerges from the dogpile victorious.]_
> 
> —
> 
> _[The video then cuts to Mom and Mum’s apartment. Nursey is finishing up the crepes, while the moms are filling out his crossword.]_
> 
> MAMAN: Eight-letter word for ‘You sent me three loaves of bread made with this to help me get through my midterms. Originally, you were going to send me five, but Mom ate the other two loaves.’
> 
> MOM: _[nods thoughtfully]_ We do make a lot of bread. And I do eat a lot of the things we make for you.
> 
> MUM: We send you a lot of things to help you get through a lot of your midterms, too. Give us a hint?
> 
> MOM: And it isn’t plural?
> 
> NURSEY: Nope!
> 
> MOM: _[mutters to herself]_ Not ‘pumpkins,’ then. Damn it.
> 
> MAMA: Can you tell us when we made it?
> 
> NURSEY: No, that’s too big of a hint. _[turns toward camera]_ Every other month, my moms like to pick an ingredient to cook and experiment with for that entire period of time, and they always send me things. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. For example, I’m still recovering from Fiasc-Okra.
> 
> MAMA: _[sheepishly]_ Sorry!
> 
> NURSEY: Anyway, they always go in alphabetical order, so if I tell them when they sent me that, it’d be too easy for them to figure it out. Also, here are some blooms for your gardens, courtesy of Mom’s mom! _[hands each of them a potted camellia]_
> 
> MOM: Oh, these are just lovely! How did I not know she was growing these?
> 
> NURSEY: You never go to New Jersey.
> 
> MOM: Okay, but nobody goes there.
> 
> —
> 
> _[The video cuts to a short montage of Nursey’s crepes. He’s also made eggs and a fresh smoothie for everyone. Each crepe has a flower made from strawberries.]_
> 
> MUM: The flower looks so pretty! Where did you learn how to do this?
> 
> NURSEY: Dex taught me! He got interested in food art after he started helping our captain bake pies.
> 
> MAMA: Well, tell him thank you from us, honey.
> 
> NURSEY: Of course I will. _[turns to camera]_ Anyway, we’re about to eat, so I’m going to end the video here. Today’s probably going to be a quiet day; we might play some board games because Maman got me a Pokemon Monopoly board for my birthday a few months ago and then maybe a movie. And for dinner, we’ll probably walk around St. Mark’s to see if there are any new food places to try, because I feel like there’s always something new there every time I come home. Thanks everyone for sticking through to the end of this video, and I hope you liked it! Happy Mothers’ Day!
> 
> _[The video then pans over to each of the moms, who wave.]_
> 
> MOM: I GOT IT! IT’S ‘CARDA _MOM_ ’!
> 
> * * *
> 
> [a screenshot of the very last ask]
> 
>   * **Anonymous** asked: whats your favorite part abt mothers day? / how do you feel about it?
> 

> 
> you know, nobody’s ever asked me that before? and i've never really stopped to think about it??????? like i was so surprised at this ask that that’s why i saved it for last, so that i'd have some time to think about it.
> 
> i never thought i'd get to this point, you know? i never even let myself imagine that my moms could all get along because i knew i’d want it too much and disappoint myself, since it would never happen. i never thought i'd get to see all my moms being good friends with each other, let alone even see them talk to each other once in a while about things that aren’t me. but they do that now! they’ll make plans to check out a new restaurant or accompany each other to a doctor’s appointment (like me, mama has panic disorder, with some other stuff, but that’s a topic for another day, and she doesn’t like going out by herself) or meet up for drinks after work to unwind. and it’s not like some of my moms are on better terms with each other than others—they’re all really good friends now, especially my mom and mama (my birth parents).
> 
> like, there are days where it’s hard to remember that we weren’t always like this—i wasn’t always getting stuff in the mail from them, they didn’t always attend my games… i didn’t always feel like i could go to them for help. we definitely didn’t have a group chat. mom and mama never fought in front of me, but i knew they argued. plus, when i was at one home, it was like my other moms didn’t exist. and this was still happening during high school, which was five years ago!
> 
> you all know that my disappearance for a few days in high school was what brought things to a head (aka when we started family therapy), but i don’t think i ever talked about how much work it took to make the progress we made as a family. therapy was where i confessed that i knew that my moms didn’t want me around, that the sharing of custody made their lives busier than necessary, that they preferred the weeks when i wasn’t around. that i felt like i was constantly being ferried from one place to another, because i was everyone’s shared burden. that i didn’t have a family, just pieces of multiple different families scattered about. that i felt like my moms only remembered i existed when they were dropping me off or picking me up from school—that going to boarding school for high school had only confirmed for me that they had always been meaning to send me away, but were waiting for me to be old enough.
> 
> it was so tense, the first sessions of therapy. i was sullen and badly shaken from my panic attack, which had never been so frightening or intense before, and still recovering from having been missing for three days without much food or water or much memory of what had happened during those three days. i still don’t remember all of it, just bits and pieces, and most of that is pure, raw emotion that i still don’t know how to articulate. i was also dealing with the aftermath of breaking up with my then-boyfriend, and i've always internalized everything, so it all just kept building up within me.
> 
> along with the therapy sessions with everyone in the room together, i was also doing individual sessions with our therapist, and it was during one of those sessions that everything i just mentioned came tumbling out. i realized that my tendency to pretend everything was chill was my way of making myself smaller and thus less disruptive to my moms’ busy lives, in the hopes that they would love me more if they saw me doing my part in making their lives easier.
> 
> but it was obviously hurting me beyond the immediate—i once hid a sprained ankle when i was eleven for almost a week—and then my therapist said something that made me cry all of a sudden. because my therapist had seen all the messy, disjointed pieces of me and my life that i had never been able to understand as a coherent overarching theme, as my sense of self, and put it together that still makes me feel raw and untethered and just plain shattered—but in the sense that something new and fragile unfurls itself and shakes itself loose of the debris right after the shattering—when i think of it.
> 
> “you know, within everything you’ve told me, i've seen one thing in common for all of it,” she told me in her quiet, thoughtful way. the room was small, her slightly messy desk by the door taking up half the space. the other half was taken up by a couch and an armchair. i always sat in the armchair, my back to her bookshelves. the sunlight warmed the right half of my body, the window itself a dusty, gray thing. “do you know what it is?”
> 
> i shook my head.  
> 
> “to me, it seems like your actions are all fueled by one single belief, one that’s been drilled into you since you were too young to be aware. not necessarily by people expressly saying so, but through their behaviors, your environment, your own patterns of behavior—and not because they believed it, too, but because they had their own stuff going on and didn’t notice or realize that that would be how you interpreted it.”
> 
> i remember looking at her and feeling like time had stopped, because even then i could sense that the ground would shift beneath my feet. she isn’t much older than my moms, i think. or maybe she’s slightly younger. i still talk to her sometimes. but i remember exactly what she looked like in that moment, her skin slightly darker than mine, her hair tied up in a bun, black rectangular glasses. she speaks with an accent similar to mama’s (they both came from puerto rico to nyc in their teens), which had been one of the biggest reasons for why i had wordlessly picked her out of the six my moms were considering when my moms told me we were going to see a therapist; she sounded (and still does sound) like home.
> 
> “all throughout, what i'm observing from you is your unspoken assumption that you _have_ to make yourself as quiet and small as possible, whether you’ve just entered a room or you’re making plans with a friend and need to ask permission or even when your parents aren’t there—you hide your worries and troubles and problems behind a false relaxed smile from not just your parents, but also your other family, your friends.” she paused, watching me take in everything. then, gently, she said, “you are allowed to have other people worry about you and care about you. you are allowed to let other people know you’re not okay and let them help you. you are allowed to take up space.”
> 
> and i've never forgotten that, nor what she said next—how it wasn’t entirely my fault that i'd turned out this way, but also that it would be up to me to to work on changing my coping mechanisms. i also worked on finding the courage to actually tell my moms about how i felt and everything, and that session ran long, and everyone was crying, because it felt like we were finally addressing the elephant in the room. there were a lot of apologies from all of my moms, and also a lot of changes to how often we communicated and also my moms’ habits to devote most of their time to their jobs. the first change of them all being that i no longer felt like i was a member (a _burden_ ) of multiple different families being pulled in every possible direction—that i felt like we were all one family, a united unit.
> 
> whoops, so that reply got away from me a bit, but basically, because of all this, my favorite part about mothers’ day is that i even get to do any of the planning that i had the privilege of doing this year at all. sorry i'm feeling really sappy today ha
> 
> anyway so that’s all the questions. thanks for sending them in, everyone, and happy mothers’ day!

#long post #mothers mention #moms mention #mother’s day #mothers’ day #about me #me and my moms #my moms #my four moms #food mention #mothers’ day video #faq #i honestly don’t know why y’all keep following me #all i do is ramble about myself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i still have some other ideas for extras for this 'verse, which will come once i get some other stuff finished (the top of my list being a chowder-centric fic and also the galendars documentary fic). fingers crossed that i will be able to do that
> 
> p.s. my omgcp blog is omgcphee, where i focus mostly on the omgcpoc, projecting all my canto chinese american feels on chris chow, and making puns


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